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Monday, July 5, 2010

It's Blog-A-Versary Week with Bo Bunny!

Today's blog post is brought to you by "Peacock Lane". This happens to be one of my favorite Bo Bunny lines of ALL TIME!!! One of my favorite Bo Bunny products is the sweet little "Clearly Stamps" sets that comes with each new line now and I'm especially loving the cute little bird in the Peacock Lane set.

I thought I would show you a fun and inexpensive way to add color to your stamped images without breaking the bank. (This means bigger scrappy budget! HA!) A lot of stampers use copic markers to color in their images but I actually prefer watercolor pencils. You can pick up a decent set at your local craft store using a coupon for under $15. These last forever and add such a cool affect to your stamping. But be warned.... you may get hooked! You see the cute little bird and feather stamped images in my layout above? I'm going to show you how to create those!

So let's do some watercoloring!

I prefer using brown as the base ink because it's not so harsh. Unless my project specifically calls for black. First, I stamp several images and decide which one or ones looks crisp and cleanest. (See Image 1) Then it's time to color in the image. With watercolor pencils, all you do is color in a thick border along all the lines of your stamped image... or where you want color the darkest. (See Image 2 and Image 3)

Next is the fun part. Using a small paint brush, dip the tip into some water, it doesn't take much, then use the brush to start blending the colored edges towards the center of the stamped image. (See Image 4) This part takes a little playing and practice to get it looking just how you want. I've used lots of different stamps just to play and practice with. I needed two different colored bird images for my layout as well as several of those fun feathers so that's what I created. (See Images 5 and 6) Notice the mutiple colors I added to the peacock feather! FUN!!! Once I'm done coloring the images in they are ready to be cut out and added as embellishments to my layout. (See Image 7)

Was that fun? What do you think? If it looks pretty easy that's because it is!

Now how about a giveaway? Leave a comment, tell me what you thought about this little tutorial and you will be entered in a drawing for a bunch of new Peacock Lane goodies! How's that for celebrating?

WOW... and I mean wow! I really loved the tutorial, the colouring part gives the stamps so much more oomph and jazz, especially for those peacock feathers! I've so gotta try that in my next LO, and I really love the patterns and colours in the Peacock lane range. Gorgeous!

I do some stamping and have watercolor pencils, but rarely ever use them together. I really need to do this more, your tutorial makes it look so easy and fun :) Love this Bo Bunny collection, too! Thanks!

I have SO many stamps in my stash and I think that part of the reason I don't use them is because I don't want to leave them plain- I'll have to try out the watercolor pencils- it looks like a lot of fun.

Made me want to get out my watercolor pencils again. Funny how we get stuck in a rut and then someone inspires us to "go back"...thanks for the tutorial and for the inspiration. I'm thinking Peacock Lane is gonna be one of my faves, too.

Love all the helpful hints. I have so many stamps and I just don't make very good use of them. I do have some watercolor pencils (which I have never used), I need to break them out and use your instructions, it looks so cool using them on a layout. I have always just thought of them in terms of cards, thanks for expanding my horizion.

Beautiful. I loved the Peacock Lane Paper so much I bought the whole line including all the embellishments! I am just hoping that I can now bring myself to use them rather the "save" them to look at. I also love colouring with watercolour pencils. I haven't used them in sometime but thanks for reminding me about them and how great they look!

I love this line as well! Your technique is great, thanks for sharing I've used watercolor pencils to add a low-opacity layer of color to photos on glossy paper as well. For stamps, another color tool I've come to adore working with is the soft pastel pencil set my husband gave me for my birthday. They are soooo smooth, and blending is easy with a small eraser or paintbrush. I will probably never go back to regular colored pencils.

LOVE LOVE LOVE this line!! The tutorial is great as well. I usually do not use black ink when doing something similar as what you did. LOVE the peacock feather watercolor, ?? I don't remember seeing that as a stamp?

Everyone's into Copics these days, but it is awesome to see the very same effect created with a different medium. Love your colouring and I too am a huge fan of the Clearly Stamps... already have myself the Peacock Lane ones! Peacock Lane is my fave Bo Bunny line ever, too!

I cannot wait to get home and try this out today!! I bought colored pencils from Michaels like a yr ago wanting to try it, then...forgot (or something?!?) You made it look so easy and the result is georgeous!! Thanks for sharing!!

Okay have the water color pencils and the ink, now I just need the stamp set and the paper line, this is the only line I can't seem to get everyone is out of it or it's not complete. This would be great to win this!!! I love BO BUNNY!!!

I love watercolour too. I have some sparkly watercolour paints, which add just a hint of shimmer and colour, when you use them on stamped images. I like your tip about using brown ink for the outlines - black can look rather severe.